A Contradiction of Facts
by serious.effort
Summary: Harry is sent to the past through the actions of an Unspeakable of questionable sanity. Still, it's an opportunity of an unique sort. Now he just has to manage to live until 1995. AU pre5th. Harry/Andromeda pairing - On Hold - 2009 sucked.


Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Note: FFnet's editor has gotten _worse_, and I didn't think that was possible.

-

A Contradiction of Facts

_By Rain_

-

Chapter 1: Meeting Odd.

-

_"Err... Are you sure this is a good idea?" One hooded man said to another with noticeable hesitation in his voice._

_"Yes, of course I'm sure." The atmosphere was dark to a degree that would easily confuse and disorient those entering. Fortunately, this was a purposely done, as they themselves could see perfectly. Seeing, however, wasn't necessary to pick up the tone of pride in the second speakers voice._

_The first hooded man shuffled closer, nervous. "But this is __Harry Potter__, you're talking about! You can't do that to __Harry Potter__!"_

_If it could be seen through the dark lighting and of course, the man wasn't hooded, Harry Potter's most recent problem could be seen blinking in confusion. "I already have, though, haven't I?"_

-

Harry, who had spent most of the summer waiting anxiously for news about something happening, wasn't quite sure what think when he was told nothing had. It was disappointing, and he had a hard time keeping the crestfallen look off his face. He had bared the presence of his Aunt and Uncle continuously in during the news hour only to learn that the muggles really weren't ignorant? That Voldemort hadn't done anything at all? Harry wasn't happy with that at all.

The source of this information, however, could possibly make up for it.

"So, you said your name was Tonks, right?" He asked the woman in front of him. The shade of red her cheeks really contrasted oddly with the neon green hairstyle she had. He was sure mentioning that she looked like a tomato wouldn't help in his friend-making venture, though.

"Yeah... Um, I'm sorry about landing on you... I can heal that cut on your arm, if you'd like."

Harry quickly shook his head and quickly muttered, "It's just a scratch." with scenes of the last time he let someone outside of Madame Pomphrey try to heal him play in his head. The fact the cause of his injury was the clumsiness of the witch didn't exactly make him trust her magical talents all that much... "I'm more interested in learning why you were following me underneath an invisibility cloak?"

Tonks suddenly looked like she really didn't want to answer that question, and the embarrassment on her cheeks was quickly replaced by an anxious pallor. "If I tell you, will you not let on you know?" Harry nodded; he could do that for the sake of knowing what the hell was going on! "Right, well, Professor Dumbledore assigned me and a few other people to be your guards. We were told not to be seen by you and not to inform you of any recent events until you were at Headquarters."

Harry received more questions than answers after hearing that. From what he could understand the Headmaster assigned people to watch him and told them to keep him uninformed? A more than healthy dose of betrayal flooded the teen at that thought, but he pushed it aside easily enough with the idea that the headmaster must have had a good reason for doing so. Still… "If you were told to tell me nothing of what was going on, why did you answer my question?"

Nervously she moved over to sit on the park side bench. She seemed to start to speak a few times before closing her mouth. Finally, however, he got an answer. "Well, from what I hear about you, I don't exactly understand why you are being kept in the dark. According to the stories Sirius has told me you deserve to know more than any of the people in the Order! Besides, I don't understand how a little knowledge will hurt you in the first place."

He smiled; he was definitely starting to like her! Suddenly very pleased with the chance of finding out more about the Voldemort situation he shot out a question about what the ministry was doing to counter-act him. That's where he learned that the situation really wasn't as good as it could have been.

"The ministry isn't doing anything, well, besides a smear campaign against you and Professor Dumbledore." Her face was fixed with a scowl at the mention of the words, but Harry didn't take much notice.

He jumped up from his place beside her and proceeded to yell, "What?!" Tonk's startled look gave him indication he would have to continue to make his outrage known. "How are they not doing anything? I knew he denied it when I told him Voldemort is back, but I thought it was just shock... Surely he cares more about the lives Voldemort will take than public opin-"

Tonks quickly slapped a hand over his mouth when her shock faded, interrupting his rant. "Shh... keep it down! Do you want to call attention to us?" Harry looked around at all the staring bystanders before smiling sheepishly and sitting back down. "Fudge has been listening to Lucius Malfoy, and I doubt You-Know-Who wants his return to be public knowledge yet… At the moment the Order is trying to track his movements, but we're not achieving much…" Looking downtrodden at this for a moment before standing and grabbing the invisibility cloak. She was obviously preparing to go back to guarding him as if this whole discussion hadn't even taken place.

"Hey, wait. You keep mentioning this "Order", its lead by the Headmaster, right?" Harry did a mental victory dance as Tonks hesitated.

"Yeah, it's called the Order of the Phoenix." She frowned, "I'm surprised you weren't told about it. Your parents were members of it in the first war." Tonks sent him a measuring glance and then smiled. "Well, since you don't plan on telling anyone about me, we have an hour until my shift ends. Want to go get some lunch?"

Harry was at her side in a second, letting out an enthusiastic "Yeah!"

Together they walked out of the park with the curious gazes of the town at their backs, taking about whatever came to mind. Tonks happily told him stories about her family and he returned them with stories of his adventures in Hogwarts. Harry couldn't help but be drawn to her, and had a hard time keeping the smile off his face since he met her. It might have just been because of her first name, though. 'Who would name their kid Nymphadora?'

It had been the best day of the summer so far, and the first that he was able to keep the events of the third task off of his mind. However, just as things were looking up for Harry, fate had to insert its hand once more.

Harry had been sitting on the only unbroken swing in the park, thinking about his earlier conversation with Tonks. He knew that his behavior had been odd, but the change of events earlier had uplifted his mood. Harry wasn't even concerned about Dudley showing up because the Dursley's had some dinner party thing to go to that night. He leaned back, content to watch the darkness slowly take the sky when he was attacked from behind. Before he could get his wand out of his pocket he was pulled into the small batch of trees. The shout of his Order guard fell on deaf ears as Harry Potter disappeared with a loud _crack_.

-

Events happened to fast to follow, and before he could put it together he found himself jarred and squeezed before landing face down on a hard floor. 'Probably pavement.' It took a full minute to even come to grip with that much. Just minutes ago he'd been relishing at the turn around his summer had taken, and now… he was just placing the pieces together.

The first thought to his mind once his mind caught up to events was, 'Well, what was the point of those guards if they don't do anything but shout at an attacker?' but he quickly put it out of mind. He had bigger concerns.

He lifted himself off the grubby floor, wincing at the pain from his grazed elbows and face. It wasn't a pleasant landing, and he was pretty sure some of the floor was still a part of him. He would deal with it later, though, now he needed to figure out what the hell happened.

The man who attacked him was strange. He tried to act menacing and dangerous, but at the same time seemed to have some sort of reverence towards him. It was creepy and not just a little bit strange. That sense just grew when the man purposely showed him his face! What the heck kind of attacker would reveal himself to his victim. Well, he supposed if the man was going to kill him they might want to gloat. All evil guys seemed to do that, but the man didn't take any motion towards that aim.

Then he confused the boy further by saying he was sorry for "this". The man's obvious glee at starting a long incantation was obvious this wasn't so. In one swift motion the spell was completed and his restraints removed, but before he was able to escape he was whisked away once more. Unfortunately, this time the "trip" was significantly longer and more painful. It didn't make sense and the boy was forced to conclude that there probably wasn't anything good to come of this.

Looking around, he felt his confusion grow. He was in a dirty little alley, in what looked like a muggle town. Certainly not Hogsmead, Diagon Alley, or some dungeon in Voldemort's clutches. However, just as he was preparing to leave the alley, a very familiar wizard apparated between him and the exit. Harry was just able to utter a surprised, "You!" before the all-too-familiar red light of a stunner knocked him out.

-

He woke to the unpleasant experience of being upside down. Several conversations were going on around him, but he couldn't make out a word. In fact, it sounded like they were speaking gibberish. Before Harry could attempt to further understand what had happened, he heard a shout of excitement and met the red light again.

He was woken up a few seconds later, and was forced to conclude that he needed to do something about this stunning business. Harry quickly directed his thoughts to the man apologizing to him for his colleagues' stunner and a quick explanation of him being "paranoid". He had the distinct impression that none of them were sorry, but couldn't know for sure. All of their faces were obscured. The memory of some group of researchers doing this type of thing was at the edge of recalling, but he couldn't piece it together.

"Er.. where am I?" Harry blinked at the question, realizing there was a better one to ask. "And why am I upside-down?"

Several of the men shifted nervously before they pushed someone forward. He was as unremarkable as the others, at least until he cast a spell that revealed his face through the hood. Immediately, the memories came back to Harry and he pointed accusingly, "You! You did this to me!"

The man seemed to brighten upon this news and pulled out a notepad. Eagerly, he asked. "I did? Tell me how I did it?"

Harry frowned, as this wasn't the answer he was looking for. "You don't remember? It was only like five minutes ago." Harry was further confused when the man wrote this down and then looked up to him to continue his story. He as certainly not helping in removing the "crazy" title he had given the man. Nevertheless, he continued; "You ambushed me in the park and took me to some creepy warehouse."

The man looked hesitant at the implications of that, but jotted it down regardless. "Go on, what else did I do?"

Harry looked around hesitantly, and thought about not continuing. He didn't see how saying anything would cause problems, however. He frowned, and hoped that after he told the story they would let him down. He was feeling rather lightheaded. "Then you apologized for doing "this" and said some incantation that sent me to that dirty alley."

The man finished his notes, and looked at him with an elated grin on his face before thanking him and returning to the group of masked men. Their conversation once again seemed like gibberish to him, which he attributed to a anti-eavesdropping spell, and Harry felt more confused than ever.

'First the man says he's sorry, causes me a lot of pain, hangs me upside-down and has me tell the story again, and then thanks me?' Harry anxiously checked to see if all his body parts were still there and sighed in relief when there wasn't any pain and he was intact. However, the lightheaded feeling of blood rushing to your head isn't the greatest of sensations. "Can someone please let me down?" He asked, hoping that the privacy spell was one-way.

He was sure they heard him, and several jumped at his words, obviously forgetting he was there. 'Ugh, it's like a bunch of Hermione's.' Still, they took their time, probably talked about "Should we really let him down?" before his abductor lifted his wand and put him back on the floor.

When he was promptly knocked cold by that damn red light again.

-

Over the next few days Harry was put through all sorts of add tests, spells, and forced to add his blood to several potions. He was questioned about the oddest things, and only twice allowed to sleep on his own volition. There wasn't much he could do on the rare occasions he was awake, except go along with them. He had quickly found out that they weren't above forcing him to do what they wanted. While they hadn't actually harmed him or seem to have any malicious thoughts towards him, he felt his anger was justified at being held prisoner like this. The worst of it was that they hadn't made any effort to explain, or answer his questions, although that didn't keep him from asking them anyway.

On the third day since he had first arrived at the place, Harry's questions were finally answered. The man who caused all this mess sat before him and said his name was "Odd". Harry's first question, of course, was "Is that really your name?" in which, he was told it was a codename. Harry thought it was fitting, the man was certainly "odd", if not irritating and troublesome.

He'd long since figured that these men had to be the mysterious unspeakables that he'd heard about, and was curious as to why he hadn't been let go. In fact, nothing about this situation made sense, especially since they didn't seem to recognize him. He figured that would be the next question to ask after, "Why did I have to do all those tests?"

Odd blinked in confusion, before answering: "You sure do ask odd questions…" And was soon the target of Harry's irritated glare. "You're a time traveler; of course we had to do tests! The first documented one to go back this far." The man either ignored or didn't notice Harry's stricken look, and continued. "Well, I suppose there might be other cases; we can't really "document" them. So your secret is safe." The man seemed to let out a reluctant sigh. "In fact, after we get your oath not to change anything we'll be erasing most of the knowledge about you."

Harry was barely listening to the man, focused on the implications of time travel. He thought about all the things he could change in the past. He could save his Cedric! And maybe his parents! At least his question about why no one seemed to recognize him was answered. However, the last bit of the man's explanation caught up to him. "Wait, oath? Why do I need to take an oath?"

Odd stared at him incredulously, trying to understand if he was serious or not. "Why? If you changed even one thing you could compromise the universe!" The man stared some more, slowly acknowledging that saying that wasn't the best way to get through to a teenager. "You can't change the past, and apparently only I discover the way to send you back this far, so you're out of luck on going back."

All of the irritation and confusion of the past several days rose to the aid of Harry's rage. "So you sent me into the past to tell me that I can't do anything to change it? What in hell is the point of that?!" Seeing the man's unflinching stare, Harry felt his anger evaporate and despair take its place. "Now I have to just sit back and watch people I love die?"

Odd slowly nodded, "But its best you don't get involved in your other selves life." He paused and thought over what they had learned about the boy. High stress levels, numerous scarring, even the faded remnants of a curse scar and a power block. Added to his comment about losing loved ones, it equals to a less than happy life. "Think of it this way, you get another chance. Start from scratch, maybe train a little since there are reports of a new Dark Lord on the rise." The man snorted at the thought, "Best to live to your future, yeah?"

Harry sat in silence, not responding to the man for quite a while. It was true that he hadn't ever really been happy in his other life, now he had a chance to have what he always wanted; a normal life. Plus plenty of time to train for when he was back in his time and Voldemort was targeting him. On that thought, he looked up to ask the man for the date when he realized the man was no longer in the room. Harry was surprised he didn't hear the man leave, but perhaps it was a sneaky unspeakable thing.

The man returned a few minutes later holding a bowl, and Harry's wand. He'd missed it over the past several days, and didn't pay any attention to the man once it had been returned. He was immersed in inspecting it for damage when Odd coughed. "There's no damage, no worries. We just removed any way of identifying the wand as your other selves'. It'll now show up as a holly and unicorn hair. Phoenix feather is just too rare. It also has the added benefit of being immune to tracking charms." Now that he'd regained Harry's attention, he motioned to the bowl and instructed Harry on how to place the memory of his "abduction" into the pensive. It took several tries, but Harry managed.

He interrupted Odd before he could look at the memory, however. "What's the date?"

The man laughed, "I expected that to be the first question out of your mouth. It's July 31, 1965." The unspeakable observed his stunned expression for a second before using it to his advantage to take a look at the memory.

Harry breathed and mentally counted out the years he was from his time, and didn't even pay attention to the fact it was his birthday. How could it be his birthday if he wasn't born yet? That thought briefly clouded his mind before a more urgent one shoved it's way into perspective.

He wouldn't see his friends, Sirius or anyone he knew for close to thirty years.

-

After everything was explained, events seemed to happen very fast for Harry. He spent another three days in the company of the Unspeakables, as there was much to be done and he couldn't be seen in the world until then. He was told that a shocking number of seven Unspeakables were assigned to "his case" and they were working over time to give him records in the world.

In his case, he was training the new ability the Unspeakables had uncovered for him. He was a metamorphagus like Tonks! He didn't really believe it, but was forced to when the unspeakable training him cast a spell that forced him into his natural state. The woman's questions about him never needing a haircut made sense, given the long mess that was now in front of him. Obviously when his hair re-grew after Petunia had shaved it off wasn't accidental magic, just an innate gift doing what he wished. He'd also didn't need a hair cut since then, thus the long hair.

From there it was hard work to return it to a manageable state, but he was determined. They refused to let him cut it, saying that it was motivation, and it was a major annoyance the way it was. It was only after he finally managed to change his hair that he was able to change anything else. Every time he changed, though, the next time was much quicker and easier.

Still, his appreciation was extended to Tonks. It took him a good hour to just change his hair, and she did it in seconds along with a number of other changes.

By the end of the second day he had chosen the appearance that he wished to live by in that time. He had been told that one way or another he would have to change how he looked. There could be no connection between his new identity and any of the Potters.

The Potters, now that was another problem all together. While he first realized that his father was alive, it didn't sink in that his grandparents were also. When it first struck him, he thought that his first act upon leaving here would be to seek out the man, and get to know him. However, a thought came to him long before he made any plans; 'What would I tell them?' It wasn't as if he could just walk into their lives and reveal that he was their time traveling grandson.

It had been explained to him about how much trouble revealing the future had caused. Seers were different, as they spoke of possible futures, and prophecy was Fate giving the present a push in the right direction. However, a time traveler working on future knowledge could destroy the delicate timeline and throw events into an unpredictable and usually negative future. He really didn't understand it, but the story about Atlantis really cleared it up.

Apparently there was a powerful Dark Lord of that time that had seized control of the island, and his opponents devised a method to go back in time and stop the man from gaining control. Instead, the man started the events that would destroy the civilization and remove all traces of it from the planet.

Odd's words about keeping his lives separate rung in his ears, and he was forced to agree. He could still learn about his family, and prepare for when he could claim the name "Potter" again. If he ran into them in Diagon Alley or any other place, he would aim to strike polite conversation with the man, but it was very unlikely he would have an opportunity to forge a relationship with them. Harry pushed that depressing conclusion out of his mind, bringing his attention to the last facet of his appearance; His scar.

The lightning bolt scar had faded considerably, and he had been told that a "curse" had been broken recently on it. Harry figured that the connection couldn't exist before it had been forged, so it broke upon his appearance in the past. That thought brought Harry no despair, as at least in this time, he was free of Voldemort and the target the scar branded him as. Still, it couldn't stay as it was, as it was too distinguishing.

He focused on moving the scar towards his hairline, grimacing at the pulling of skin and the pain that came with it. It took him an hour, and by that time he had an excruciating headache, but the scar was finally hidden.

He looked into the mirror and grinned at the unfamiliar face that greeted him. It wasn't normal or bland, as he figured he didn't really have anything to hide in this time period. He took a page out of Tonks' book, well as much as he dared, and decided not to be normal. His face shape was mostly the same but the curly brown hair and blue eyes would make that fact a hard sell. His hair was short, an inch in length, and imitated what he supposed Hermione's hair would be like if it was short.

In all, he thought that he could get used to his face. He'd even lightened the color of the blue eyes on a whim until it was hard to tell whether they were blue, or grey. It was completely different from his old appearance too; different enough to convince him that this was an entirely new time and environment and that he had opportunity live as he wished.

That was true too. The Unspeakables had said that he would be emancipated, as it would cause too many problems for an adjusting time traveler to have a guardian. He would be given enough money to live comfortably on until he graduated from Hogwarts, an abandoned house in London that he was going to supposedly "inherit", and a foolproof background and papers. He was essentially going to be left to his own devices to live as long as he swore that oath. Harry was unsure as to how they were going to accomplish all this, let alone get all the money for him, but he hoped they would pull through.

It had taken him that entire first day to come to terms with the idea he was thirty years in the past. He would be older than Sirius when he returned! Not even Odd's excited muttering after he witnessed his memory of his abduction drew his attention, nor had being allowed to see where he was escorted to, a little room with a bed and bathroom attached, afterwards. He lay awake for a good number of hours, thinking about everything this could mean and despite the initial heartbreak at not being able to see his friends or Sirius, he couldn't help falling asleep with a hopeful smile on his face.

He would see them again, and during that time he could have the opportunity to grow that he had never been allowed before. The Dursley's certainly hadn't, the expectations of the wizarding world didn't help that, and danger of the Voldemort and his followers had just made everything worse. Now, here in the past, he had the chance to relax. He still felt guilty about moving on so quickly, but this was almost a dream come true.

Perhaps he would find out who the real him was through his new identity. As it was, Harry Potter was looking forward to the day when he wouldn't have to be "Harry Potter" any longer.

-

Harry waited anxiously for Odd to meet with him. He had been given all the files on his case already and was just waiting for the final bit about his identity. He'd pursued the papers with interest earlier, surprised at how much they had been able to find out. They had an in-depth report on his personality with a note that he was "cleared". At least they distinguished between someone evil returning to destroy the world and someone who didn't have a choice.

Despite what they put him through, he was starting to understand their reasons. He wouldn't like Voldemort returning to the past to take over the wizarding world, and they had no clue what his intentions were when he arrived. He was sure the fact that he was unwilling in this situation helped this.

Reading through the reports, though, he discovered a lot of things he didn't know about. First of all, he didn't ever think of himself as an extremely powerful wizard, but apparently he was. He'd always believed he was above average, as he had to have some sort of power to cast a patronus, but he never considered he was anything special. His IQ was also very high, something he had a hard time believing but he didn't have much of a reason to doubt the tests he was put through. He had wondered on how they knew these things, but the Unspeakables weren't talking. All those weird tests he forced to take part in had to have revealed some of it, although he had no idea how hanging someone upside-down into a potion would do such a thing.

There was also an in-depth study into his personality, which disturbed him more than anything else. The fact that all but Odd were to be obliviated of this knowledge made him feel better, and even Odd wasn't going to keep much of it. He would just the knowledge necessary to send Harry Potter back in time.

He frowned at the study, planning on asking someone to decipher it for him. The other papers were clear and concise, but this had a lot of terminology that he didn't understand. Still, it if he could figure out his faults, it would help him correct them. If he had control over himself, he believed that it couldn't only improve his chances against Voldemort.

Harry looked up as the door opened to reveal an Unspeakable with a number of papers. He straightened in his chair and looked expectantly at the man. Well, he assumed he was a man, it was hard to tell in those robes.

The unspeakable placed the papers down in front of Harry and spoke in a low tone, "Familiarize yourself with these and someone will come by later and help you adjust." He, as it was apparent by the tone, then left the room without another word.

However, Harry didn't have much opportunity to be irritated, as his new name caught his attention. The pieces fell into place and connected and Tonk's words the day of his abduction played in his head. The last two thoughts before his brain took a well needed break from thought were; 'Shit, I'm a father?' and a few obscenities later, in horror, 'I was attracted to my own daughter!'

And indeed, his new identity was Ted Tonks.

-

Authors note: Just giving this a test run. This is everything I've got atm, outside of plotlines, random scenes and notes. I've had this idea since 2005, and it's been floating around in my files since then. I'm glad to have finally got it somewhat together, but if no one is interested in it, I'll keep it to myself. There will probably be plenty of errors, but I'll work on that if anyone cares to read the thing. :P

Now that I've got this mostly down, though, I think I can get back to my other stories. It's really been forever. .


End file.
